


Catastrophe

by soundofez



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: (Félix (PV)), (Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug)), Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, Fluff, Gen, accidental nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-17 08:09:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9312956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soundofez/pseuds/soundofez
Summary: In which Plagg is bitter, Adrien gets turned into a cat, and Marinette accidentally confesses.





	

The boy pays no attention to the black cat that darts across the dark street, not even when his foot connects with the creature, sending it flying. It lands on its feet, hissing and spitting, but the boy named Félix doesn't seem to notice, and so the cat slinks balefully back into the night.

Neither the boy nor Adrien Agreste have any recollection of this cat when, come Monday, Adrien steps accidentally on the cat's tail as he is rushing to class. "Sorry, kitty," Adrien apologizes, kneeling to placate the animal.

It's the last thing he'll remember from that day.

* * *

There's a cat outside trying to get into the Collège, or so Marinette hears from Alya, and when they leave for lunch break, it's still there, attracting something of a crowd.

"Why is everyone so interested in some mangy cat?" Chloé asks disdainfully as she passes, and that's motivation enough for Marinette to scoop the creature up.

"Someone has to take it to a shelter," she declares, tickling under its chin and smiling when it purrs. "Or at least make sure it doesn't run out into the street."

Mama is a little skeptical, but Papa doesn't mind looking after the cat until it has found a permanent home. "Or we could keep him," he adds, delighted at the way the cat purrs under his gentle hands.

* * *

Adrien doesn't remember his first days as a cat very well. By the time he's even remotely aware that he's supposed to be human, he's found himself in Marinette's home on the receiving end of her unrepentantly dramatic soliloquies about... him. About Adrien Agreste. He's vaguely embarrassed for finding out, and more than a little confused, trying to knit this new information with what he thought about Marinette.

The living room door swings open. Adrien straightens immediately from the couch and pads to Marinette for his now customary greeting. "Hello, Chat Noir," she greets, crouching to pet him as he twines around her ankles, purring. "How was he* today, mama?" she calls to her mother.

"He was fine!" Mrs. Cheng calls back cheerfully from the kitchen. "He's been fine for days now. I think he's finally learned that you always come back."

"That's good." Marinette scoops him up. He scrabbles a little bit, unnerved, but forcibly retracts his claws and settles into her arms.

"Adrien is still missing," Marinette informs him sadly as she traipses upstairs. "The police have been in and out of the collège, but there's no trace of him." She lowers him to the floor, and he rolls out of her arms and leaps onto her desk, where he waits atop a stack of papers, tail lashing nervously as it does every time she talks about him.

She massages his heads pleasantly when she settles at her desk and asks, whimsically, "You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you, chaton?"

Adrien ducks out from under her hand and nods, eyes unblinking. Marinette stares back. "Did you just...?"

He blinks once, but is otherwise completely still.

Marinette sighs and turns away. "Of course not," she dismisses. "His eyes are as green as yours, chaton, did you know? He disappeared the same day I found you. Isn't that funny?"

Adrien deflates. Of course it would be too much to hope for her to understand his situation. He barely believes himself that he is a cat! And what would he tell her, anyway? What could she possibly do to help him?

* * *

* Adrien vaguely remembers small spats over his sex. He does not remember why these spats ceased, and never thought enough about it to be embarrassed.

* * *

"Enjoying yourself, I see," a voice hisses spitefully one day from the open bay window in the living room.

Adrien leaps away from the voice even as he turns toward it. Marinette is at school, and her parents are downstairs in the bakery, so who—?

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" The other cat cackles from the window as he struts in. "Remember me? Hurt me once, shame on me. Hurt me twice, shame on you. I don't forgive, and I don't forget."

It's the cat he had accidentally stepped on, Adrien realizes. Twice?

"I wanted you to suffer as I have, but your damnable luck got you this shelter," the cat continues resentfully, stalking around Adrien. "She loves you, too! So unfair, that a human as rude as you would be loved."

"It was an accident!" Adrien protests, backing away from the cat, and is too nervous to notice that he has spoken.

The other cat narrows his eyes. "He speaks! But what lies he tells."

Adrien flares. "It's not a lie! I stopped to make sure I didn't hurt you, didn't I?"

The cat considers him skeptically. "Fine," he says reluctantly. "You seem an honest enough fellow, I suppose. I am Plagg."

"Adrien," Adrien replies. "Will you change me back?"

Plagg scoffs. "Couldn't even if I wanted to," he says unrepentantly. "A hateful thing like you could never love, I thought, so I made the countercurse a kiss from someone you love. Should be simple for you to get that, though."

Adrien falls silent, staring at the cat that could be his double. Plagg stares back. "What, don't you love your human?"

Adrien starts. "I-I don't know."

If cats could roll their eyes, Plagg would have. "Humans," he snorts. "Don't overthink it, Adrien."

* * *

She loves him, but does he love her? Adrien wracks his brain for a whole day, agonizing over the idea even as he curls up on the floor beside her. He likes her— she is brave and kind and he'd hated that they'd started on such an awful foot when they first met— but does he love her?

"What pests!" Marinette snarls suddenly, thumping her hand on her physics textbook and jolting Adrien out of his funk. "That Chloé— and the transfer, Félix Agreste! He's nothing like his cousin, I can tell you that much, though they look alike enough."

She notices Adrien, then, who can feel his fur still bristling from the shock of her fist on the floor. "Sorry, chaton," she apologizes, dropping a kiss onto his furry little head, and the next thing he knows, he's naked and distinctly human and still curled up, catlike, beside Marinette, who is smaller than he remembers her being after so long of her towering over his little cat body.

There's an agonizing beat of silence, during which Adrien struggles to orient himself, and then Marinette shrieks.

"S-sorry!" Adrien yelps, scrambling on all fours to the far side of Marinette's chaise, where he hides, heart pounding.

"Marinette?" Mrs. Cheng calls up the stairs.

"A-A-A—" Marinette stutters as her mother pokes her head through the trapdoor.

"Are you alright, Marinette?" the older woman asks her daughter.

"Adrien was Chat Noir!" Marinette squeaks.

Adrien takes a deep breath and pokes his head over the chaise. "Excuse me, would you happen to have any spare clothes?" he asks awkwardly.

Marinette's mother stares at him. "You're the missing boy," she says slowly.

"I... ah, yes," he says apologetically.

"And you were little Chat Noir?" The question is tinged with disbelief.

Adrien opts to nod silently.

"Well. Let's get you some clothes," the lady accepts easily. "Marinette, keep the poor boy company?"

Marinette looks flustered. "I— ah— Adrien— well— y-yes, alright," she finally concedes.

Mrs. Cheng disappears back down the trapdoor. Adrien slumps against the floor again, his shoulders level with his burning ears.

"Y-you— H-how much do you remember?" Marinette stammers after a moment.

"I know you l-like me," Adrien admits, and can't help but smile a little at Marinette's muffled squeak. "But, um..." He takes a deep breath, thinking ruefully that confessing to someone whose feelings are mutual should really be much easier than it is. "I-like-you-too," he forces into a breath.

There's a nerve-wracking pause. "R-really?" Marinette finally whispers.

Mrs. Cheng chooses that moment to clatter back into the room. "Here you are, dear," she says cheerfully, bustling over to the chaise and settling several outfits on it. "They're my husband's so they'll be a little big on you, but they should do, at least to get you home. Marinette, help him call his father. I'll phone the police."

"Thank you, madame," Adrien says gratefully, tilting his head to inspect the clothes. "I'll make sure to return these."

Père rushes him home, of course, but that evening, Marinette misses the weight of her little Chat Noir on her bedsheets, and Adrien feels like his bed too small and too cold.

* * *

**Messages > Mon Adrien**  
**Today** 21:38

_are the police gone yet?_

_Yes, finally_  
_What about over there?_

_dunno_  
_père sent me straight to my room and the manor is really big_

_hey_  
_are we_  
_going out?_

_Yes!_  
_If you want to_  
_You don't have to_

_i want to!_

**Today** 21:45

_marinette?_

_Are you sure?_

_of course!_  
_i mean_  
_are you sure?_  
_i was your cat_  
_that's weird, isn't it?_  
_and we didn't exactly start off on good terms when school started_

_marinette?_

_It's just_  
_I'm clumsy_  
_And forgetful_

_but_  
_marinette_

_And I can never make myself clear around you_

_you're so talented?_  
_and so kind and strong_  
_and your hands are very nice_  
_//// ignore that last one_

_My hands?_  
_I'm not_  
_I'm not really that good_

_you're amazing, marinette!_

_marinette?_

**Today** 22:00

_Thank you, Adrien_

_i love you_  
_i mean_  
_that's why i changed back_

_I love you too_  
_Aaaa, that feels so weird to say_  
_But it's true!_  
_I promise_

_i know_  
_i heard a lot about myself as a cat ;3_

_Nooooooo that's so embarrassing_

_i love you, marinette_

_I love you too, Adrien_  
_I'll see you at school tomorrow?_

_if père lets me go back, maybe_  
_but i'm sure i can at least convince him to let me see you_

_Oh_  
_That's good, I think_

_you think? i'm hurt_

_I mean!_  
_You really like going to collège, right?_  
_It would be a shame if you weren't allowed out again_  
_But I would like seeing you_

_:) <3_

_< 3_

* * *

"I found that boy you were talking of, Plagg."

The cat turns. "The one who kicked me?"

A ladybug lands squarely on the cat's snout. "He looks just like the one which you cursed."

Plagg flicks his ear, eyes crossing as he tries to look at the little bug. "Where is he?"

"I'm not telling," the ladybug replies. "I just wanted to let you know that I found him, and I'm taking him under my wing."

" _Tikki_ ," Plagg complains.

Tikki dodges Plagg's lazy swipe. "No buts! He's in love. It's so cute."

"He kicked me," the cat grumbles.

"Because he is in love! But he had to move away from her, so he's very troubled. That's where I come in!"

"Wreck him for me?"

"No, Plagg," Tikki scolds, landing on Plagg's forehead this time. "Let it go. They weren't even the same person!"

"I bet you were responsible for Adrien and his human, weren't you," Plagg sighs.

Tikki giggles back. "Nope! That was all you, monsieur sourpuss."

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally posted on tumblr [here](http://soundofez.tumblr.com/post/132378272778/catastrophe), where you can still find it in all its original, OOC, unedited glory.


End file.
